Report: Kings ‘Increasingly Comfortable’ Selecting At 4th In Thursday’s Draft, Talking Collins Trade With ATL
Jun 20, 2022, 9:27 AM | Updated: 9:28 am
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
It’s officially Draft Week.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Sacramento Kings are ‘increasingly comfortable’ drafting at fourth during Thursday’s NBA Draft and have established a ‘steep’ price for teams that wish to acquire the selection.
The Kings are becoming increasingly comfortable drafting at No. 4 in Thursday’s draft and have described a steep price for teams behind them in the lottery who are attempting to trade up, sources said.
Shams Charania of The Athletic – June 20, 2022
Charania’s report comes just days after his rival NBA insider counterpart Adrian Wojnarowski stated that several teams are looking to trade with Sacramento to acquire the fourth-overall pick.
The price for the fourth pick was always rumored to be steep as Kings general manager Monte McNair is looking to capitalize on the team’s good fortune of jumping from seventh to fourth in the draft lottery.
This 2022 draft class is widely viewed as a top-four-heavy talent pool, with Auburn’s Jabari Smith Jr., Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren, Duke’s Paolo Banchero, and Purdue’s Jaden Ivey expected to go in some combination of the first through fourth picks.
Wojnarowski’s report named the Detroit Pistons (fifth pick), Indiana Pacers (sixth pick), Washington Wizards (10th pick), and New York Knicks (11th pick) as teams that are currently interested in trading up to draft Ivey, who could be selected as high as the second pick when Oklahoma City is on the clock.
Another interesting tidbit from Charania’s report on Monday was that McNair and the Kings are currently discussing a potential deal with the Atlanta Hawks that would send talented power forward John Collins to Sacramento:
Sacramento general manager Monte McNair has engaged in conversations around Hawks forward John Collins — among a slew of other established, productive players in the market — but there has been no involvement of the No. 4 pick in the discussions centered on Collins, and McNair will ultimately make the decision on the pick, according to sources.
Shams Charania of The Athletic – June 20, 2022
The Kings have been linked to Collins since February’s trade deadline and were deep into discussions to acquire the 24-year-old before Atlanta ran into a seven-game winning streak before the deadline, per a source.
Atlanta will need to shed salary as star guard Trae Young’s max extension kicks in at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, adding to the team’s growing payroll.
Young, who was named to an All-NBA team at the end of this past season, will now be able to enact the super-max clause of his contract, netting him an extra $35 million over the next five seasons and $6.1 million more for the next year alone.
Adding more salary to a bloated payroll that already includes Collins ($101 million over four years), Danilo Gallinari ($21.5 million in 2022-23), Bogdan Bogdanovic ($18 million the next two seasons), Clint Capela ($62 million over three years) and Kevin Huerter ($65 million over four years) means that moves will need to be made if the Hawks want to avoid paying luxury tax penalties this summer.
Although Atlanta Hawks owner Tony Ressler recently stated that the luxury tax ‘does not scare’ the franchise, Charania’s report states that the Hawks are looking to move on from Collins and that Sacramento is not including the fourth-overall pick in the negotiations.
Any deal for Collins would likely include Harrison Barnes (expiring $18 million contract) or Richaun Holmes, who seemed out of sorts in a reserve role behind recently acquired center Domantas Sabonis.
As we move within 72 hours of the draft, McNair will undoubtedly be on the phone for the majority of the next three days to iron out any potential deals that can put this team in a place to compete come October.
